Christian Pulisic and Folarin Balogun Shine in World Cup Opener
Christian Pulisic lit the fuse. Folarin Balogun did the damage. And deep into stoppage time, Gio Reyna walked on and reminded everyone why coaches keep waiting on him, why pundits keep talking about him, and why defenders fear him.
The co-hosts opened their home World Cup campaign with a statement, ripping through South American opposition 4-1 and rewriting a few pages of their own history in the process. It was the kind of night that sets a tone for a tournament: bold, relentless, unapologetically ambitious.
Pulisic, sharp and inventive, set the early tempo before making way at half-time. Balogun, given the responsibility of leading the line, embraced it with a ruthless brace. His movement stretched the game, his finishing underlined why Monaco trusted him, and why Mauricio Pochettino clearly does too.
The scoreline already looked emphatic when Reyna stepped off the bench. He turned it into a memory.
Eight minutes into stoppage time, with the crowd still hungry for one more flourish, the 23-year-old playmaker collected the ball on the edge of the box. Two strides forward, a quick adjustment of the body, and then that audacious choice: a trivela, caressed with the outside of his right boot. The ball bent away from the despairing reach of Orlando Gill and kissed the net. A party goal, in a statement win.
Nobody doubts Reyna can do that. The frustration has always been how rarely he’s been able to show it.
Injuries, stops and starts, disrupted seasons – the story of his young career has too often been about what he might do rather than what he’s doing every week. Former USMNT goalkeeper Kasey Keller knows that tension well, and he sees both the promise and the impatience.
“I think that's what we're waiting for,” Keller told GOAL, reflecting on Reyna’s strike and the talent behind it. “We're waiting to see how that can be week in and week out. Then the other question is why can't it be week in and week out yet?”
Keller had been optimistic when Reyna moved to Borussia Mönchengladbach, a club he knows intimately from his own playing days.
“I was really excited that he went to Gladbach, obviously as a former Gladbach player, but I thought he had something that would really help Gladbach,” Keller said. “He was playing quite a bit more and then picked up a little injury and then took some time, and then at the end of the season was getting a little more playing time.”
Progress, then a setback, then a late push. It has been the rhythm of Reyna’s career so far. Nobody feels that more acutely than the player himself.
“I'm sure nobody's more frustrated than Gio,” Keller admitted. The connection is personal as well as professional. “The family's staying at our house for the Seattle game. I've known Gio since he was born, obviously how close I am to Claudio. Obviously talent-wise, sky's the limit and now it's just that little piece of finding that consistency, finding that something that ensures that you're on the pitch.”
The next stop for the USMNT is Washington state, where they face Australia on Friday. For Reyna, it’s another chance to turn flashes into a run, to convert highlight clips into habit. After catching up with the Keller family in Seattle, he’ll be desperate to feature prominently again in Pochettino’s plans.
Right now, though, there’s a practical question for this World Cup: is Reyna an impact weapon off the bench, or a starter waiting for his opening? The midfield trio of Weston McKennie, Tyler Adams and Malik Tillman has given the side energy, bite and balance. That matters in tournament football.
Keller understands where Reyna stands in that pecking order.
“I'm sure he understands as well that he just hasn’t had the minutes, for whatever reason to think that you're ready for the full night,” he said. The logic is simple: rhythm matters, and others have it.
“Look, if somebody goes down, I don't think there's going to be a problem. That was a pretty dynamic trio in midfield. I don't think by any means that Gio couldn't slide in there comfortably, if let's say Tillman goes down or something like that.”
The reality of elite squads is often cruel. Sometimes you’re ready, but the guys in front of you are playing too well to dislodge.
“But we've all been in those situations where you're ready, you feel ready, but the guys in front of you are playing really, really well,” Keller said. “You just have to wait your time.”
Reyna has already reached 39 senior caps and pushed his goal tally into double figures for the national team. Those numbers look solid on paper, yet they don’t quite match the scale of the talent. He knows it. The staff know it. The plan now is simple: push both tallies higher, fast.
With a home World Cup to attack and the USMNT intent on going deep, Reyna should see plenty of minutes before this tournament is done. Then comes the 2026-27 campaign, and the possibility of a reset at Borussia Mönchengladbach, a season where fitness, form and opportunity finally align.
If that happens, nights like this won’t feel like rare bursts of magic. They’ll feel like the baseline for a player who has been threatening to explode onto the game’s top tier for years.
